Once again I am running this list as a central location to let your Secret Santa know when your (hopefully much appreciated) gift has arrived to your house.

Use this list to record what your Secret Santas sent you and remember to include any comments such as thanks that you want to give your Secret Santa. When you post on this list, you may want to make a note on your profile with a link to your entry so your Secret Santa can easily locate your confirmation of delivery and your reaction. That way your Secret Santa can look to see if you received your gift and you can post any comments you may have about the gift here and you can reply without the identity of your Secret Santa ever having to be released!

Please only make an entry when you actually receive the present!

I don't know about anyone else, but I generally obsess about whether a package has arrived at it's intended destination. I drive my wife crazy with checking tracking numbers constantly! So it will be nice to see when those gifts are actually received by the giftee (or are they just sitting unclaimed on the neighbor's porch?)

To see how the previous years' editions of this list have gone, look at these links:

[b]New Note (I placed this in the comments section as well): If you have added a "Comment" of your gift receipt, please take the time to "Add Item" to this GeekList rather than to place a comment in this section of the receipt of your gift. The actual items being added is how the statistics get accumulated for Simon Hunt's great results list located at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/49122

A good example of how to make an entry useful for this other list is located at: this entry.

Making an actual entry will also make it easier for your Secret Santa to locate your Item.

Ho! Ho! Ho! So I come home today and what should I find? But eight dancing reindeer, a shiny red sleigh and a jolly old elf with a face split wide with a laughing smile between rosy cheeks.

Alright. Not really - but it sure felt like it! Secret Santa sent me a game. I asked my wife, "Should I open it?" She replied, "Like you could wait until Christmas."

Sometimes, I think my wife knows me too well.

I peeked - just a small opening in the end of the package. Yes! A game that's been on my radar since it came out: In the Year of the Dragon. Yippee! I quickly resealed it (maybe she didn't see?). At least, I'm going to wait to play it until after Christmas. Just to prove to my wife I still can be surprised.

Maybe.

Thank you very much, Secret Santa! May all you and yours have a Merry Christmas full of peace, joy and all good gaming things!

I got a few taunts from my Secret Santa over the past couple weeks, and he was nice enough to include a tracking number with one of them. So every morning I would check up on it and how far away my gift was. So today when I read "Out For Delivery" I rushed home, through a rampaging blizzard mind you, and found the package waiting for me. Since I have no willpower, I ripped it open right away and was very, very pleased to see Formula D waiting for me!

So my Secret Snata sent me hint as to when my games would come. They were suppose to come the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I thought, how perfect since we were leaving to go to the relatives that night!

I was thinking we could play the games that evening. But, they didn't come... So sneaky of them Got back Friday night, still weren't here. But I got them today!

I was very excited to see what my Secret Santa. Opened the box... and they were wrapped. Ugh, now I was gonna feel guilty opening them.

Boy were they nicely wrapped though. It's been so long since I got a new game sadly I couldn't wait. I let my 18 mo. old son help me rip them open. He did a great job. Got the one og in 2 tears and the other in only one! Keeping all the paper intact.

Santa was extremely generous this year. Not only did he send this game (it's Middle Earth and it looks cool, what's not to want about it?- some in my group are very excited it is here), he also sent Jet Set. I tried that one at a con in NC and liked it a lot.

Wow. I'm at a loss for words. Not only did Santa get me Dungeon Lords, he also included:

and

and

the SmallWorld expansions and Batt'l Kha'os!! And some chocolates, although my wife has laid claim to those.

Any thank yous I write here would fail to properly express my gratitude for Santa's generosity, so I thought I would pay it forward and have made a donation to Child's Play to hopefully brighten a child's holiday as much as my BGG Secret Santa has mine.

I love almost all games, play Boardgames with my wife, have three kids, generally enjoy cats and understand and like those bumper stickers with the little fishies sprouting legs.

My Silent Santa came through today with a lovely box from Funagain games! I usually am quite patient so I was suprised at how hard it was not to open the box

My wife came home not long after and bolstered my resolve... she'll be opening the package tomorrow and wrapping it for its proper place under the tree (once we put up a tree )

Its going to be a long December... but I'm sure it will be worth the wait. Thanks Santa!!!

Edit: The Day After Christmas...

Thanks so much Santa! My wife (a physician assistant) has been very interested in trying Pandemic from my game night descriptions and this will be a lot of fun to explore with her! She was impressed by how quickly it played and how easy the rules were to grasp in her first game on Christmas Night (she was expecting something more complex for some reason...). We won pretty easily with only 4 epidemics... though we were playing the researcher slightly wrong... Luckily, I doubt easy games will be a problem since you also included:

Yesterday I received a parcel from someone I didn't know. From the size of the parcel I assumed that it was from my Secret Santa. I pulled off the paper and there was this knocked around Thomas the Tank Engine Game box, looking as though it was a reject from a reject shop. I was more than a little disappointed.

Luckily, inside the box was a game I had purchased on eBay so there was no problem.

A half an hour ago the doorbell rings and we wonder who in the world it could be. I go answer and there is someone I have never seen standing there with a arm full of wrapped presents. She tells me she is my Secret Santa! She hands over the presents and we talk, while she refuses to tell me who she is! She is originally from the area here and visiting family for Thanksgiving and drops the presents off in person! The worst part is, I'm no closer to knowing her identity had it been an anonymous package in the mail!

Thank You Secret Santa!

I was told I could open the envelope early and look what I found!

We love playing the base game and here is a brand-new/just released mini supplement which is signed by the designers! We love playing the base game and this will make it that much cooler! Thank you!

On top of that there are two more wrapped boxes! I can't wait to open them! The anticipation is killing me!

Here they are sitting under the tree tempting me!

So a big thanks to my Secret Santa, whoever you are. It was neat getting to meet you. Anytime you are in the area again and want to play a game, you are welcome to drop by, you don't even have to tell us your name.

Update: Oops I forgot to update this after opening the presents! So to my delight I opened the presents and found:

The best part was that Grind was open and the rule book was signed! What an awesome Secret Santa! Thank you so much, we have played both games already and love them. The Grind minis will be going to the painting table soon. Thanks for making this an awesome experience for me.

There was a package waiting at the door when I got home from work today and I was hoping it would be for me. Indeed it was, as I excitedly read the "To" label and I noted my Santa was practically a next door neighbor (geographically speaking - sent from about 90 miles away). After reading so many entries on this geeklist about people who are waiting until Christmas to open their secret Santa gifts, I thought maybe I could do it too. I made a pact with myself that if I opened the shipping box and the gift inside was wrapped, I'd wait until Christmas to open it and if it wasn't all bets were off. I anxiously opened the box to find not one, but two, nicely wrapped gifts (drat - I guess I'll be waiting 'til Christmas!). I left the two packages sitting on the counter, in plain sight, where they dared me to tear open the shinny holiday paper and reveal the gaming goodness that waited inside.

For two hours they taunted me, telling me that if I waited until my wife got home the decision would be out of my hands, but somehow I persevered. Finally, my wife arrived home from work and I thought my weak willpower, which had already been stretched to its limits, would be replaced by the iron law of my better half and I would finally be free of the temptation.

To my great surprise, she said "open them if you want to, you don't have to wait until Christmas". My resolve crumbled at that point and I quickly opened the presents before she could change her mind. Inside one I found BattleLore: Heroes Expansion and in the other waited Talisman (fourth edition): The Frostmarch Expansion. My hat is off to all you other BGGers that have the fortitude to wait.

Thank you for the awesome gifts Santa!

My Santa made this a fun experience with several funny taunts and excellent gift choices. Thanks again Santa - many happy returns to you and yours!

Driving home this evening I told my (not-quite) 3 year-old daughter "There might be a surprise for you when we get home!" My info came straight from Santa, letting me know to be on the lookout for a package arriving somewhere near the 30th. She was very excited about the possibility, and sure enough as we were driving up the driveway this evening I spied two boxes on my door-step (one of which looked exceedingly like a games box - non-descript brown box, dents in all the right places). After doing the more mundane chores I was able to bring the box inside, and, even though I had decided to wait until Christmas to see what was inside, with my daughter and 14-month old son clamoring to open the box I simply couldn't resist opening it up and diving right in . After opening the box, all I could say was "Wow".

Sitting on top of the box was Wits & Wagers Expansion Pack 1 which my son gleefully took and ran off with (being just the right size). Next out of the box was Quietville, which my daughter somehow knew was for her. I've heard some great things about this game and am looking forward to trying it out with her. She was very excited to get her own surprise and wanted to play with it right away.

The next game we pulled out was Leonardo da Vinci, another game that's been on my wishlist for a while. I do tend to enjoy Euros more and have been wanting to try this one since it first came out. Sitting off to the side, the next game out was Pick Picknic, another game to play with our kids. I don't actually know much about this game, my wife having found it and added it to our wishlist some time ago, but it does look fun, too.

The next game was quite heavy, and after pulling it out of the packing peanuts I was very pleasantly surprised to find Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization. I had been wanting to try this one out since it's quick rise in the rankings. My wife and I love civilization-building games and are always on the look-out for games that can capture the essence compressed into a shorter playing time. We do try to play AH Advanced Civilization at least once a year, but with that play length it's rarely much more. Fortuitously, we had been able to try this game out for the first time just a week ago at BGG.Con and both enjoyed it very much. I'm sure we'll be playing this one many times.

I was already very surprised and grateful for the generosity of my Secret Santa, but there was one more game left to pull out of the box! The final game was none other than Prophecy, a game I hadn't heard much about until recently when it seemed to be popping up in all sorts of different recommendation threads. The theme gets me immediately, since I was quite enamored with Dungeons & Dragons growing up, and it sounds like a lot of people enjoy the depth and unique mechanics. I can't wait to get an epic game going.

So there you have it, my list of games received from Santa. Luckily, even though the outer packaging was dented from Santa's brown delivery truck, his elves at CoolStuffInc packed everything well enough that the games are still in perfect condition. I'm very thankful that Santa was thinking of all of us here and has made our Christmas that much brighter.

Look what i found on my doorstep when i returned from the Thanksgiving holiday...!

My Secret Santa, not content to gift one of my number-one choices for the holiday, proceeded to dig down my list and find a GREAT 2-player game (Mr. Jack in New York). I don't have many of those, and as a result, my girlfriend and i don't often play when it's just the two of us.

He did a good job taunting me, too... he knew i received my gifts before i even had time to properly acknowledge or thank him here in this thread. Good detective work, that!

Much thanks to Tom and the BGG game community for organizing this to get us all in a generous spirit as Christmas approaches.

Wow!! I'm impressed I did add this game to my wish list because it seemed like an interesting solo game with a great science fiction theme, but it wasn't until later (quite recently) when I read some reviews that compared its setting with Asimov's Fundation series that my interest really got high.

Today I got this game in the mail and I'm so happy Thanks a lot Secret Santa!!!! I hope you've got a great Christmas. Cheers!!!

Santa seems to have outsourced to Sarmatia (modern Ukraine) this year, as an Amazon just delivered a box filled with not one, not two, but three nicely wrapped packages, which will go under the tree.

The style of packaging provides subtle hints as to the content, so it looks like my German-speaking Secret Santa has just substantially reduced my wishlist by things I've been trying to get, on and off, for years!

Thanks a lot, and I hope your own Secret Santa is as successful. Have a great Christmas -- I know I will!

UPDATE: Christmas Eve has come and gone, and the mystery package turns out to have been

which I would probably not have gotten for myself soon, so hooray!

The other two, smaller, packages, were wrapped up such that I had already suspected their contents, and I was right:

Woo Hoo!! Got a tag in the mail today saying I have a package to collect from the post office! Will Pick it up tomorrow! Not bad, Santa told me 6 business days ago that it should make it here between 6 and 20 business days!

Thanks santa from far away, I hope there is a clue to the origin of your gift, I can't wait to see!

Edit: Woo Hoo!! Kingsburg and Red November!!! The box was a little hard to get home from the post office on my scooter but well worth the effort!

Big thanks to a too generous santa (shipping alone cost more than the recomended spend!!)

Not only did you send me Dice Town but you send me some Doomtown decks and cards. I made a huge mistake in 2002 by getting rid of my Doomtown collection with my Magic cards - i don' regret the Magic cards but i have missed the Doomtown to this day. Oh and also thank's for the Dan Verrson Elvves battle game - very cool!

I have been walking around all day (well actually packaging games - its what i do for a living) with a smile on my face. Thank you Santa!

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

There's just one kind of favor I'll ask for you - you can see that my grave is kept clean

A million thank yous, Secret Santa. I have been waiting since last Friday to write this post, when I heard from Nick at Shire Games that Santa had visited (or at least called, since I think Santa comes from the US this year, possibly Eastern seaboard).

I was going to post a thank you on Friday and then update with the actual items this week. But my lovely wife (diamondskylucy) has decreed that Christmas is Christmas and i can't open the presents until then. I feel like Homer in 'Homer gets a handgun'. Personally, I think the wife is in league with the elves.

But thank you Santa for the two parcels under our tree - actually on a shelf and the tree goes up at the weekend. I have a suspicion that one of them is Dominion: Seaside, but I can't figure out the other one (Shadow Hunters? Tinner's Trail?). Feel free to taunt me again with clues!!

Christmas Day Edit:

It's THE ADVENTURERS - Great. Thanks again, Secret Santa. What a great present. It's an excellent push your luck game. We played it on Christmas day and I pushed my luck too far. I was the only member of the family to remain trapped inside the temple!

Thanks also for including this:

Painted minis! This makes the game so much better to play and I don't have to lift a single paint brush. Thanks for thinking of this too.

I just got home from work and found that FedEx had payed me a visit. I was very eager to see what inhabited the large box, so I brought it in a promptly opened the box. Inside were two identically wrapped presents with a short message from my Santa. Also included were some mini candy canes!

Seeing as I have been good this year, I decided to go ahead and open my gifts. The first one I peeled open was Dominion: Intrigue. Without breathing, I started to rip the skin off of my second gift to uncover it's mate, Dominion: Seaside. I am a very happy man! Thanks Santa, I will never eat your cookies again.

I've got some real problems with you people!Especially my "Secret Santa". It seems this year I drew some dark Festivus elf instead of a proper Santa.

First he promised me four games, and dangled the possibility of two more in front of me. Well, a package has arrived, and inside is not four games, not six games, but only one wrapped box. Now, maybe the box contains a game or four, or maybe it's filled with coal as my Festivus elf keeps hinting. There's simply no way to know.

There were also a couple bags of candy (like I need more candy this time of year), a gift certificate for Boulder Games (whatever that is), and this incomprehensible note (I think it may be a veiled threat):

Now, to attempt to guess what I'm getting. When I first heard that I was getting four games, I figured it would most likely be four of the smaller games on my list (which would be great), but that avaricious part of me hoped for four of the big ones (say Agricola, Dominion, Space Alert, and Galaxy Trucker). While the package certainly seems heavy enough for those, I suspect it's more likely that it contains one or two of those, plus maybe Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm and Coloretto. Either way, my "Santa" would have gone above and beyond. However, given the dark nature of my assigned elf, I'm halfway expecting the box to have nothing but a few booster packs of the Survivor Trading Card Game (with the rares removed) and a bunch of rocks for weight.

Alright, having dispensed with the airing of grievances, it's time to get the aluminum pole polished and set up and start getting buffed up for the feats of strength.

Update:All is forgiven, Santa! I opened my gift a little early, because I wanted to have a chance to familiarize myself with the new games before introducing them to extended family Christmas weekend. So, there really were four games inside the box:

My wife was so impressed by my Secret Santa's generosity that she said I must demand that he or she reveal him or herself and send me his or her mailing address so I can send a proper thank-you. Of course, whether you choose to do so or not is entirely up to you, but either way, know that I really appreciate my gifts and I look forward to playing them.

BTW, my wife's favorite part of the gift was the Carcassonne expansion, since she really likes Carc. She asked to play it right away.

Update II:So I get a geekmail from Santa saying that I maybe have all the information I need to figure out who he (or she) is. I thought perhaps that was referring to the subject of the message, "I can haz chezburger". Maybe it's one of the people with a LOLcats avatar. Not long after, I received a package in the mail. It was Power Lunch

, presumably from my Secret Santa, as well.

Aha! I thought, the return address may be the other clue that I needed. I should have known:

In life you have to do a lot of things you don't f*cking want to do. Many times, that's what the f*ck life is... one vile f*cking task after another.

, but the package was sent from Granada Hills, CA, with a return address in Northridge. I've tried using the "find users" feature to search for gamers in that area, and I've tried going through the list of Secret Santa participants, looking for people in that area. In both cases, the task proved too daunting. So, I have to admit, I'm stumped.